


Leave Me Alone

by SeafoamSoul



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 02:17:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17034588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeafoamSoul/pseuds/SeafoamSoul
Summary: Braun’s begging to be left alone. Just for a while. He just wants to be alone.





	Leave Me Alone

“Leave me alone,” Braun sputtered, dragging himself away from the ambulance. He repeated it all the way to the hallway where he finally stopped, leaning against the wall.

“Braun, thank god, are you okay?” I asked, running up to him. I had been forced to stay in gorilla, watching the whole ambulance scene unfold. “You’re okay, right?”

“Leave me alone,” he repeated, slumping down to sit on the ground, arms resting against his bent knees.

“Braun, honey, I know your match was crazy. I get that. Come on, you can tell me about it,” I offered, crouching down in front of him. I reached out for his arm, trying to comfort him. The second my fingers touched his skin, he jerked away, curling in on himself.

“Leave me alone.” His voice was broken, head in his hands.

Confusion wasn’t even a strong enough word to explain how I felt. I knew he would be tired, sore. His match was intense. But I didn’t expect him to be like this. Here he was, obviously broken in front of me. My hand hung awkwardly in the air between us, frown on my face as I looked at him.

This Braun in front of me? It wasn’t Braun. Not the Braun I knew. Braun never acted like this, he was always so strong, so steady. Seeing him like this, off-kilter, it was unreal to me.

“Braun?” I asked, voice softer this time.

“Leave me alone!” he yelled, head shooting up from his hands. I jumped back, alarmed, as his eyes, red-rimmed, stared straight into mine. “Just go.”

“I…Um, okay,” I agreed, nodding slowly. “I’ll…Just go then.” I stood up slowly, eyes on Braun as his head ended up in his hands again. “The keys to the rental are, um, you know. In the locker room. I’ll catch a ride with someone else, I guess.” I waited for him to acknowledge me, say something in return. In the distance, I heard someone calling out to someone else to wait for them and knew if I wanted to catch a ride, I’d have to go quickly. “I’ll see you at the hotel, okay?”

Still, I got no reply. I refused to stand there, looking pathetic, so I spared Braun one last glance before walking away.

===============================

I tried waiting up for him, waiting for him to finally make it to our hotel room. But Braun never showed. My phone calls went unanswered, texts ignored. And at some point, it became too hard for me to keep my eyes open and on the door, so I drifted off to sleep.

I expected to wake up next to Braun, our legs tangled together. My expectations were shattered as soon as my eyes slid open and I realized his side of the bed was pristine. I felt my heart fall to the pit of my stomach, realizing he never came to the hotel, to me. A simple glance at my phone told me he never answered a text after I went to sleep, no phone calls returned. I had no idea where he was, where he had gone off to.

But I had to know.

I got dressed as quickly as I possibly could, making sure I had my phone before I ran down to the hotel lobby. Weaving through the tables littered with my coworkers, I was desperately searching for someone I was sure would know where Braun was. But Bray was nowhere to be found. Instead, I turned my focus to finding Karl.

“Karl!” I yelled, spotting his head in the crowd. Ignoring everyone’s weird glances as I ran across the lobby to get to him was hard, their eyes staring holes into my back as I passed by them all.

“What’s up?” Karl asked, turning to look at me when I stopped in front of him.

“Do you know where Braun is?” I asked, glancing at my phone to see if maybe I had missed a message or a call.

“Oh, um,” he stuttered, eyes wide.

“Karl,” I warned, head cocked to the side. “Where is he?”

“He left,” Karl admitted. I gasped, loudly, and everyone around us shifted awkwardly in their seats.

“Left?” I managed to choke out, eyes stinging with tears. “What?”

“He left last night,” Karl sighed. “Carrano told him he wouldn’t be needed, so he loaded up his stuff and got on a plane. But he gave me the rental’s keys to give to you.” Karl dug through his pockets, pulling out a key and holding it out to me.

“He came to see you? And told you he was leaving?” I clarified, hands shaking as I grabbed the key. “He told you. And he didn’t answer the phone when I called. Wouldn’t text me back. But he came to see you.”

“He just needs some time,” Karly said, patting my hand with his own. “He’ll come around.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I nodded, willing the tears in my eyes not to fall. “I’m sure he will. Thanks, Karl.”

“Are you okay?” Karl asked, hand on my wrist to stop me from turning and walking away.

“I’m fine,” I promised, weak smile on my face. “Just fine.”

======================

I had never been more glad that I didn’t have a match on Raw than I was that day. I had spent all day calling Braun, trying to get in touch with him, but to no avail. He was avoiding me, refusing to answer even the simplest text. I had left him what felt like a thousand voicemails, begging him to call me back, to let me know he got home okay.

In short, I was a wreck. I couldn’t keep still backstage, pacing constantly in a dark corner of the arena. This had never happened before. Braun and I were always so good at communicating with each other. But now, now I couldn’t even get him to tell me he was going home.

All I could think about was the way he had yelled at me, begging me to leave him alone. The look in his eyes, how sad he looked. It killed me. That image was burned into my eyelids, appearing every time I blinked. Like a lights show from hell.

At the end of the night, Karl was the one who came to find me. He waved away Luke, telling him he’d be out to the car in a minute. Bitterly, I thought that I hoped Karl would keep his promise, not making Luke worry about him for hours on end.

“You okay?” Karl asked, putting an arm around my shoulder. His question broke me out of my reverie and I smiled shakily up at him.

“Um, yeah, I’m fine,” I said, waving off his concern. “All is well.”

“Well I talked to Braun, he said he’s fine. But you know him, he’s probably just saying that. I’m sure you’ve gotten the whole story,” Karl explained, walking with me down the hallway to the exit.

“You talked to him?” Suddenly, the tears I managed to keep at bay all day were running down my cheeks as I brought us to a screeching halt in the middle of the hallway. “Did he call you? Or did you call him?”

“It was a text,” Karl muttered, glancing down the hallway to see how many people were around us. “I didn’t hear his voice.”

“So he can text you, tell you he’s fine. But he can’t answer my phone calls, can’t answer my texts.” I sniffled, swiping at my eyes furiously. “Fine. At least he’s okay.”

“Listen, he’s probably just upset.” Karl grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “You know how he is. It’ll be okay. Just go home, see how he’s doing. I’m sure everything will be fine. And if it’s not, give me a call, I’ll straighten him out.”

“Thanks,” I smiled, tears still streaming down my face. “I appreciate that.”

“No problem. Now, come on. You’ve got a plane to catch.”

==========================

“Braun?” I called, tentatively stepping foot into our apartment. I listened closely for any sounds, telling me where he might be. Hearing none, I ventured further into the apartment. “Braun?” I found him stretched out on the couch, absentmindedly staring at the tv. He was awake, his phone right next to him on the table. And still, I could get no reply from him. I sighed, setting my stuff down in a chair before moving to stand next to him. “Braun?” I repeated, voice louder this time.

Finally, Braun looked up at me. His eyes looked tired, almost dead, and my heart broke again for him. But not enough to discount the anger that was also boiling inside of me.

“What?” he asked, eyes back on the tv in front of him.

“Well? Don’t you have anything to say to me? You took off without letting me know! I had to get all my information from Karl because you wouldn’t answer my calls or my texts. But Karl? You could answer Karl?”

I hadn’t meant to yell at him, meant to approach this situation much more delicately. But seeing him there, so nonchalant about the fact I was home, it flipped a switch. I couldn’t handle it anymore. I knew he was hurting, knew he was obviously dealing with something that related to his match. But that didn’t give him a free ride to be an asshole to me about it.

“I wanted to be left alone,” Braun said, sitting up straight, eyes laser focused onto mine. “I thought I made that clear on Sunday.”

“Yes, Braun, you did. On Sunday. But it’s Tuesday! I haven’t heard anything from you for over 24 hours! Don’t you think that hurts? To know that you could talk to Karl but not to me?” I had to stop talking, try to gather my thoughts. “It hurts.”

“You just wouldn’t take a hint, would you?” Braun spat, standing up from the couch, pacing along the length of the table. “I told you to leave me alone. I didn’t answer your messages. It meant I still wanted you to leave me alone.”

“But what did I do to deserve that, Braun? I was coming to check on you after your match, like I do every time you have a match. I worry about you, worry about you getting hurt. You just had surgery, Braun! I wanted to make sure you were okay! But instead, all I get is you pulling away and yelling at me. And then you left with no explanation, not to me. What did I do to deserve that?” I was crying again, cursing myself for it as I felt tears fall down my cheeks. I didn’t want Braun to see me this weak, not when he was obviously fitted with emotions of steel, at least in this case. But here I was, damn near sobbing while Braun’s face was completely devoid of emotion.

“I needed time. That’s what leave me alone means. Give me time!” Braun yelled.

“You had time! But now I’m back, I’m home, and you can’t have any more time! Tell me what was wrong, explain what happened on Sunday. I need to know!” I yelled back, not even bothering to try to wipe away my tears as they fell.

“I’m going out,” Braun said, grabbing his phone off the table and heading to the door.

“I won’t be here when you get back,” I called after him, wishing my voice would stop wavering.

“Fine!” And then the door was closed behind him, Braun leaving me behind. I fell to my knees on the floor, my head in my hands. I let the tears come freely, tried to cry myself out while I thought, briefly, about how much like Sunday this was.

A little too much like Sunday, for my taste.

===========================

“Have you called him?” Nia asked, putting a mug of coffee in front of me. I shook my head with a sigh.

After I left the apartment, I called Nia to explain the situation. She offered me her couch to sleep on until I didn’t need it and I took her up on the offer, finding myself still there on Thursday morning.

“He said he needs time, so I’m giving him time. When he’s ready, he’ll call me,” I told her.

“Do we even know what his issue is?” she asked, one eyebrow raised in my direction.

“No, he won’t talk about it. All I know is he was fine early Sunday morning but by the time his match was over, he was….Like he is now,” I said, stirring sugar into my coffee.

“Well, you’ll see him Monday for sure,” Nia said, attempting to sound cheery.

“Yeah, I’ll see him Monday for sure,” I agreed, nodding absentmindedly while she changed subjects. I was barely listening, eyes focused outside the window as birds flew by. Wishing, desperately, that I was looking at the birds in my own apartment with Braun by my side.

=========================

“We need to talk,” Braun said, voice gruff as I opened the door to Nia’s apartment.

It was Friday, meaning it had taken him 2 days to come to me, to finally want to talk to me. Those 2 days felt like forever, even with Nia spending all her free time trying to make sure I wasn’t focused on Braun. She tried to keep me occupied, keep me happy, but that was nearly impossible. All I wanted was for Braun to finally come to me, to talk.

But the look on his face right now told me that maybe I shouldn’t have wanted to talk to him so desperately.

“Um, okay, do you want to-” I began, falling silent when Braun shook his head.

“I was thinking we could go for coffee,” he told me, gesturing down the hallway. “I’ll meet you at our usual place?”

“Oh. Okay. Sure, yeah, I’ll meet you there,” I told him with a small nod. He said nothing, turning away to leave in silence.

I knew this wouldn’t end well but I couldn’t stop myself from hoping that maybe, just maybe, he would finally tell me what was wrong with him. Not knowing what was bothering him was killing me. But the nervousness at him finally deciding to talk to me, but out at a coffee shop? Well, that was even worse.

I got dressed quickly, hurrying down to my car. The whole ride to the coffee shop, all I could think about was how terribly this could go. I never even noticed my hands shaking until I reached for the door of the coffee shop, eyes scanning the tables to find Braun.

He was in the back corner booth, head bent low over his cup of coffee. He looked nervous, which only made my nerves increase tenfold. Braun being nervous always freaked me out. He was so relaxed most of the time, not often bothered. So the nervousness, the blow up from earlier? This all was pointing to something bad, something I wasn’t sure I was ready to deal with.

“Hey,” I said, sliding into the booth across from him.

Braun finally looked up at me, offering me a small smile. “Hey.”

“So what’s this about?” I asked, crossing my arms. If this was going to be terrible, I wanted it over as soon as possible.

“You know what this is about,” Braun told me, moving his coffee cup to the side. “Sunday. And then again on Tuesday.”

“What about it?”

“I love you, you know I do,” Braun began, fingers tapping against the tabletop.

“Oh we’re going that route,” I muttered, looking over his shoulder.

“I’m just so tired,” Braun said, ignoring my input.

“Tired?” I asked, eyebrows raised. “You’re tired.”

“Exhausted.”

“So you take that out on me?” I asked, voice shrill.

“I shouldn’t have, I know. But after I talked to you on Tuesday…I can’t do this anymore,” Braun admitted. His eyes were soft as he looked at me, one of his hands reaching across the table towards me. “At least for now. I need-”

“Space. Time. Yeah, I got that on Tuesday. That’s fine, whatever,” I said, standing up quickly. “I’ll get my stuff from the apartment on Wednesday, so don’t be there.”

“Is that it?” Braun asked, eyes wide as I moved to walk away.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“But-”

“No, Braun. No. Just leave me alone.” And then I walked away, leaving him in that back corner booth. Alone. For the last time.


End file.
